A prominent Malaysian legal profession body has criticised both Malaysia and Australia over their recent approach to asylum seekers, accusing Australia of passing the buck and Malaysia of being a “laggard”.

The strongly-worded reprimand is revealed on the front page of today’s Western Independent.

The Western Independent is a newspaper produced by Curtin University journalism students.

This month’s edition is now available free from news stands around the University’s Bentley campus.

Photography: Greta Carroll